The planned aquatic and arena recreation centre is outlined in red. (Council Agenda Package/City of P.A.)

By Alison Sandstrom

Arena and Aquatic complex

City selects Saskatoon and Toronto architectural firms to design new recreation centre

Sep 22, 2020 | 4:09 PM

A Saskatoon architectural firm, in partnership with a Toronto-based firm will create the design for Prince Albert’s new $60-million arena and aquatic recreation complex.

At Monday night’s meeting, Prince Albert city council approved awarding the tender for the detailed design of the project to Group 2 Architecture Interior Design Ltd of Saskatoon in partnership with MJMA Architects of Toronto for an estimated cost of $3,593,102 plus taxes.

Fourteen teams spanning five provinces submitted proposals to design the complex. Two of them included Prince Albert companies, neither of which were among the top five firms that were short listed for in-person interviews.

Firms were evaluated on seven different criteria, with professional fees (cost) being worth the largest portion of the final score at 25 per cent.

Director of Public Works Wes Hicks told council some additional weight was given to firms with team members in Saskatchewan and firms who had built arena and aquatic complexes in the prairie provinces. No extra points were awarded for firms being from Prince Albert specifically.

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“You could be located in Saskatchewan, you could be in Prince Albert, but if you’ve never done a pool or you’ve never done a hockey rink, you’re not getting any points because we don’t want someone learning on the job,” Hicks said, speaking to the past experience section (15 per cent) of the evaluation rubric.

Similarly, he explained some points in the design team (15 per cent) and key contact personnel (15 per cent) sections were given for having team members in Saskatchewan, but not Prince Albert specifically.

“Because this is the largest project we’ve ever attempted in the City of Prince Albert – dollar value and structure complexity –local can’t just be the word Prince Albert because there is no individual company that can do this alone inside of Prince Albert,” he said.

According to a city report, the firms selected have completed 75 pools and 100 rinks between them.

The architects will complete the preliminary and conceptual design of the project by the end of 2020. The subsequent detailed design is expected to take eight months. Construction of the facility, which is anticipated to last two years, is scheduled to begin at the end of 2021.

The detailed designs for phase two and three of the complex will tendered at a later date.

Also on Monday night, council approved sole-sourcing project management services for the new recreation complex to AECOM for $398,578. The multinational engineering firm, which has offices in Saskatoon, will be the main point of contact between the city, contractors and the architects though out the entire design and construction of the project.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom